Various forms of diesel particle filters (DPFs) for automobiles have been developed due to the particulate matter emitted from diesel engines causing lung cancer, asthma or allergies. On the other hand, in marine diesel engines, fuel oil of high sulfur content is used, so that it is difficult to apply a technique for the collection, low-temperature burning and removal of particulate matter, that is, particulates, by the combination of an oxidation catalyst and a ceramic filter used for automobiles.
Thus, as described in WO 2004-059135, the inventor of the present application has developed an apparatus for removing fine particles in exhaust gas, wherein a filter unit for collecting particulates in the exhaust gas is stored in a cylindrical ceramic housing, and a high-frequency alternating current is passed from a high-frequency inverter to a working coil wound around the outer peripheral part of the housing to generate an alternating magnetic flux, which induces an eddy current by the change of this magnetic flux in a metal heating member of the filter unit stored in the housing, such that a high temperature is generated in the filter unit itself to burn the collected particulates.